LSU identifies $46 million in possible budget cuts for next year

BATON ROUGE -- Louisiana State University's main campus in Baton Rouge has identified $46 million in possible budget cuts for next year -- affecting everything from janitorial services to advanced technology research -- as the state's public colleges brace for steep reductions in state support when federal economic stimulus dollars expire in 2011-12.

The cuts are part of a systemwide budget-cutting exercise in which all LSU campuses were asked to say how they would adjust to a 23 percent drop in state support. For the state's flagship campus, it could mean 261 positions eliminated, reductions in financial aid opportunities, consolidation or elimination of some academic programs and cuts to a variety of research programs.

Although it's only an academic exercise for the time being, college officials are taking it seriously, as the Legislature has given no indication that it plans to replace the $290 million in federal stimulus financing that is propping up the campuses in the 2010-11 budget cycle that started July 1.

"We have gone to great lengths during previous cuts to preserve and protect the student experience, but that is no longer possible," LSU Provost Jack Hamilton said Tuesday, adding that the cuts, if implemented, would put LSU's state support below 2001 levels.

The proposed cuts will be up for discussion Friday when the LSU Board of Supervisors meets to review the submissions from the main campus and the other entities that make up the LSU System. Board members are not expected to take any action on the cuts.

State appropriations make up just less than 32 percent of the $428 million budget for LSU's main campus, which also is supported by student tuition, federal financing and other revenue sources.

Lawmakers on the key budget committees have been critical of college officials for not providing enough specifics about what programs and services are on the chopping block as state revenue plummets. While the latest submission provides the clearest outline to date of what might get cut, it still does not give specifics about which academic programs could be chopped.

About $20 million of the $46 million would come from the core teaching and research programs on the main campus, while the remaining $26 million would be taken from programs that support those functions. Hamilton said campus officials are still trying to figure out which academic programs would be cut as part of the $20 million, and he expects to have those plans ready within weeks. "It's very complicated, and we have more work to do," Hamilton said.

He said the cuts to academic programs will not be across the board but will seek to preserve the strongest areas while culling the weak. "We're not going to weaken every program a little bit," Hamilton said. "Someone who's deciding to come here is going to know which programs are strong and which ones have been eliminated."

In the meantime, the $26 million cut from academic support programs includes:

$5 million from various financial aid programs.

$2.1 million and 88 jobs eliminated from facility services, including janitors and groundskeepers. The change would mean classrooms would be cleaned only three days per week and trash removal would be "occasional, " according to a campus news release.

$2 million from the Center for Advanced Microstructures and Devices, which would eliminate the largest experimental research facility on the main campus.

$1 million by eliminating the Louisiana Geological Survey, which is the largest public source of archived state geologic maps.